SWAMI SIVANANDA | SADHANA : A Textbook of The Psychology & Practice of The Techniques of Spiritual Perfection | TPPTSP | Rajasic mind always wants new things . It wants variety . It gets disgusted with monotony . It wants change of place , change of food , change of everything . One should not be afraid of monotony . One should have asinine patience , adamantine will and untiring perseverance . Then only one can succeed in Yoga . One who wants something new always , is unfit for Yoga .

The third kind of Ahankara is the knowledge which identifies the " I " with the body , composed of five elements , which takes the body for the Atman .

This is the worst or the basest form of egoism . This is found in all worldly persons .

Those who possess this kind of egoism can never come to their right senses . Countless persons have been deluded by this form of Ahankara . They have lost their intelligence , power of discrimination and the power of enquiry .

This kind of egoism produces baneful results . People come under the influence of all the evils of life .

Those who are slaves of this form of Ahankara are troubled by various desires which induce them to do wrong actions . It debases them to the state of a beast .

The more you thin out this egoism , the more you will get knowledge of Brahman or the light of the Self .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

Mere illusion or Maya is the cause of egoism . Knowledge is the cause of egoism . Knowledge is produced through the illusory objects such as , the body , tree , river , mountain , animals , etc .

If the objects do not exist , we can neither think of , nor know anything . If there are no objects , we will have no knowledge of objects at all . Then egoism , the seed of Manas will be absorbed .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

The idea of " I " which is the nest , containing all frailties is the seed of the tree of mind . The sprout which at first germinates from the seed of Ahankara is Buddhi or intellect .

From this sprout , the ramifying branches called Sankalpas take their origin .

Through such a differentiation , the mind , Chitta and Buddhi are but the different names or qualities of the one Ahankara .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

The branches of Vasanas will naturally produce innumerable crops of Karmas , but if , with the sword of Jnana , you sever them from the heart's core , they will be destroyed .

Cut the branches of the dire tree of mind and eventually destroy the tree at its root completely .

Cutting the branches is only a secondary thing — the primary being the eradication of the tree at its root .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

If you through virtuous actions destroy the idea of " I " at the root of the tree ( mind ) , then it will not spring up .

Atma Jnana or knowledge of the Self is the fire which destroys the conception of the Ahankara , the seed of the tree ( mind ) .

You say , " This body is mine " . The vultures , jackals and fishes also say , " this body is mine " .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

If you peel off the layers of the onion one by one , the onion dwindles into an airy nothing .

So is the " I " . This body , mind , Prana , senses etc , are all combinations of the five elements and Tanmatras . They are all modifications of the Prakriti only .

Where is the " I " then ? " I " is an illusory nothing , fabricated by the juggler , mind .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

Nothing can be said to exist , which is not produced by some cause . This body which is produced through Karmas is not itself the cause . The knowledge or consciousness that we have of it is itself illusory .

Therefore Ahankara and other effects which are produced through the delusion of knowledge are also non-existent .

The real " I " is only the Sat-Chit-Ananda Brahman .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

Just as the motion of the train or the boat is transferred to the tree , so also " I " is transferred through the jugglery of the mind to the body , mind , Prana and the senses .

When you say , " I am stout , I am lean " , the " I " is transferred to the senses and you identify with the senses; when you say " I am hungry , I am thirsty " , the " I " is transferred to the Prana ; when you say , " I am angry , I am lustful " , the " I " is transferred to the mind .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

If you identify yourself with the supreme Self , all false identifications will vanish .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

If you kill the commander of an army , you can very easily subdue the soldiers .

Even so , if you kill this commander-egoism in the Adhyatmic battle , you can very easily subdue the soldiers viz , lust , anger , pride , jealousy , greed , delusion , hypocrisy , who fight for their master — egoism .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

Try to attain Brahman by means of the first two kinds of superior egoism .

If you are firmly established in that supreme immaculate state wherein even these two kinds of superior egoism are abandoned one by one , then such a state is the imperishable abode of Brahman .

Do not identify the " I " with the physical body .

Identify yourself with the supreme Self or the ParaBrahman .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

You might have reduced or thinned out your egoism to a very great extent , but if you are still susceptible to censure and praise , know that the subtle egoism is still lurking in you .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

An aspirant who treads the path of devotion destroys one's egoism through self-surrender or Atma-Nivedana to the Lord . One says ,

" I am Thine my Lord , all is Thine , Thy will be done " .

One feels one is an instrument in the hands of the Lord , and dedicates all actions and the fruits of actions to the Lord .

One feels that there is nothing but the Lord , that everything is done by the Lord , that even an atom cannot move without the Lord and that all beings live , move and have their very existence in the Lord .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

A Karma Yogin destroys one's egoism through self-sacrifice .

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|| SADHANA FOR ELIMINATION OF EGOISM | PART I ||

A Jnana Yogin kills one's egoism through self-denial or self-abnegation , through Vichara and the practice of Neti-Neti doctrine —

" I am not this body , I am not this Prana . I am not this mind or the senses " ,

and through identification with the supreme Self by meditating on the formula ,

" Hammer on ! hammer on ! " is the first principle of success . Without work you can never succeed . A lazy person is bound to perish in the " struggle for existence " , one cannot live , one must die .

Rise to the GOD-Consciousness to such a degree that for you your past relations may become a complete blank . . . Your relation to the world should become the relation of GOD to the world ; an entire change .

From one point of view , mind and intellect are not Brahman ; but on the other hand , mind and intellect are nothing else but Brahman , even the body is nothing else but Brahman , and Everything in the world is nothing else but Brahman .

Can you transfer your consciousness ? Put it here , your consciousness should sit here . Can it sit here ? Now it is inside your body . It is operating through the body and you are seeing through the aperture of your eyes and then perceiving a person like me here .

Immanuel Kant is said to have been woken up by Hume from " dogmatic slumber " and brought about a " Copernican revolution " in the field of philosophy . In Kant we begin to reap the ripe fruits of philosophy , for it is here that it shows signs of its having reached maturity and full development .

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PRABODHASUDHAKARA | THE NECTAR OCEAN OF ENLIGHTENMENT | PART 2 | DEVOTION | SRI ADI SANKARACARYA | TRANSLATION & BHASYA BY SAMVID | PSNOE SERIES || The devotional fervour which the author exhibits in the four concluding sections of this work would appear to be in sharp contrast with the author's relentless pursuit of truth through rational enquiry , found in the earlier sections .

I am composing the Atmabodha , or Self-Knowledge , to serve the needs of those who have been purified through the practice of austerities, and who are peaceful in heart , free from cravings , and desirous of Liberation .

One who has one's mind Self-absorbed through Yoga , and who has the vision of sameness everywhere , sees this Self existing in everything , and everything in one's Self . | One who sees Me in everything , and sees all things in Me — I do not go out of one's vision , and one also is not lost to My vision .

Some minds with too much self reliance in themselves , and without considering the true nature of things , give them different forms and colours , according to their own conceptions and opinions , though far from truth .

VOL 1 | BOOK II | CHAP XVII | VERSE 10 | ON THE CONTENTS OF THE WORK | IT CONTAINS SIX BOOKS all fraught with sentences full of reason , and each distinct from the other in its import . It has many verses containing chosen examples on all subjects .

DANGEROUS HABIT OF CONSTANT SELF JUSTIFICATION | To go on claiming this so-called freedom , which is no more than a subjection to certain ignorant cosmic forces , is to indulge in a blind contradiction and to claim the right to lead a double life

Imagination in the mind always exaggerates . Exaggeration is a modification of lie . Aspirants should not exaggerate . They should utter words with mathematical and scientific precision . An aspirant is asked to give up company and observe Mouna .

MahaBhava is a Divine Ecstasy . It shakes the body and mind to their very foundation . It is like a huge elephant entering a small hut . The house shakes to its foundation . Perhaps it falls to pieces .

Athato bhaktim vyakhyasyamah | 1. Now , therefore , we shall teach Bhakti , or the Religion of Divine Love . 2. Now , therefore , I will try to explain the process of devotional service . 3. Now , therefore , the doctrine of devotion we shall expound .

Rama has written in simple language , the ordinary thoughts and ideas that satisfy the mind and show the Divine Vision to the writer both within and without . The whole world shining like the diamond is becoming the Divine Ocean .

OM! In Humans , The Past exists only in memory , which is retention , replaying , reconfiguration of stories , fantasies , fiction ; The Future is expectation and fantasy : These thoughts play in The Present , creating a false sense of continuity of personality — Nothing but DREAMING it is .|| SSSV 32.3 ||